No. 19 SMU outlasts Florida State 27-24 after two-hour stadium power outage

A power surge that blacked out Doak Campbell Stadium for nearly two hours could not stop No. 19 SMU from opening its season with a road win. Quarterback Kevin Jennings threw for a career-high 430 yards and three touchdowns, and kicker Nick Reed's 20-yard field goal with 21 seconds remaining lifted the Mustangs to a 27-24 victory over Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both programs on Monday night.

Kickoff had been scheduled for 7:35 p.m. An initial power surge around 7:29 p.m. prompted stadium technicians to attempt a routine reset of the electrical system, a process expected to take five to 10 minutes. Instead, the main transformer blew, according to a detailed account of the outage, and the brief reset stretched into a delay of nearly two hours before the teams finally kicked off at 9:15 p.m. The malfunction traced to the stadium's west tower, the same section that had just undergone a $265 million renovation completed in August 2025, a project that trimmed Doak Campbell Stadium's capacity to 67,277 while adding premium seating and new technology infrastructure. Once play resumed, both sidelines operated without a public-address system, a working scoreboard, sideline video tablets, replay review or in-helmet coach-to-quarterback radios; officials kept the game clock by hand. Lashlee said afterward that SMU had not practiced calling plays without helmet communication in two years and had to fall back on hand signals on the fly. Florida State's operations staff eventually wheeled in four generators and rerouted power from an unaffected section of the stadium to get most of the lights back on, but the scoreboard, PA system and both teams' helmet radios stayed dark for the rest of the night.

Numbers that tell two stories

SMU dominated the statistical ledger and still needed a game-winning drive to survive it. The Mustangs outgained Florida State 585 yards to 324, according to the game's official box score, and punted only once all night. Yet SMU also turned the ball over four times to Florida State's one, keeping the outmanned Seminoles within reach until the final minute.

• Jennings completed 26 of 36 passes for 430 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, connecting on scores of 50 yards to Jalen Cooper, 79 yards to Yannick Smith and 10 yards to Randy Pittman, a Florida State transfer.
• Florida State running back Ousmane Kromah carried 22 times for 116 yards and a touchdown, a career high and his second straight 100-yard game.
• Florida State quarterback Ashton Daniels completed just 12 of 23 passes for 125 yards, and the Seminoles converted only 2 of 15 third downs.
• Reed's field goal capped a drive that ran 4 minutes, 35 seconds off the clock after Jennings had thrown an end-zone interception on SMU's previous possession.

Diverging trajectories

SMU arrived at Doak Campbell Stadium ranked No. 19 in the preseason Associated Press poll, the program's second consecutive season opening with a national ranking under fifth-year coach Rhett Lashlee. The Mustangs reached the College Football Playoff in 2024 and came within 43 seconds of a second straight ACC title game appearance last season before a late collapse at California, a heartbreak they converted into a Holiday Bowl win over Arizona. Jennings, in his final season in Dallas, has now started for three seasons that produced an American Athletic Conference title, an ACC title-game berth and a playoff bid. Monday's win was also a rematch of the two programs' first-ever meeting, an ACC-opening 42-16 SMU rout in 2024 that announced the Mustangs' arrival in their new conference.

Florida State's path has run the opposite direction. The Seminoles finished 5-7 last season, their second consecutive losing record and fourth in six years under Mike Norvell, who reclaimed play-calling duties this offseason after longtime offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn stepped away. Florida State's administration retained Norvell through last season's turbulence, but a program that has now lost its last two ACC openers, despite forcing four Mustangs turnovers on Monday, will face continued scrutiny of its coach and its rebuilt offense as the schedule turns to Alabama later this month.

Coaches on a chaotic night

Lashlee praised his team's composure through the stoppage and the sloppiness that followed it, telling reporters the delay tested a group that ultimately found a way to win.

"We asked them to be calm in the chaos. Couldn't be more chaotic than the first hour and a half," Lashlee said after the win, adding that Jennings "played awesome" despite the turnovers.

Norvell, whose defense forced four takeaways but whose offense converted them into only seven points, pointed to missed opportunities rather than the blackout as the deciding factor. "We only had seven points off takeaways, which when you get four turnovers, you need to be able to put points on the board in those situations," he said, according to a postgame recap from Tomahawk Nation. "We never really got in rhythm throwing the ball."

What happens next

SMU (1-0, 1-0 ACC) returns to Dallas for its home opener against UC Davis on Saturday, a tune-up before a conference schedule that will again determine whether Jennings gets a final shot at the playoff he has chased since 2023, a run detailed in an ACC-focused recap of Monday's win. Florida State (0-1, 0-1 ACC) has a bye before a road trip to No. 13 Alabama on Sept. 19, a game that will offer an early measure of whether Norvell's offense, and his tenure, can steady itself after an opening-week defeat decided in the final seconds.